British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom

The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.

An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".

The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.

"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.

'Potential to Erode Confidence'

The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.

"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he shared.

"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.

"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.

A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.

"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."